Artículo 22 Ago, 2024

Advancing legal expertise for negotiators of a global plastics treaty as part of the AFRIPAC project

As the world is developing an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (a global plastics treaty), work between formal negotiating sessions is ongoing.

content hero image
Photo: Choo Yut Shing - Flickr / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

An intersessional expert group meeting is taking place in Bangkok, Thailand from 24 – 28 August 2024. IUCN, IUCN WCEL, and GRID-Arendal have developed legal briefs in English, French, and Portuguese for the AFRIPAC project to continue to build capacity of negotiators.

Dr. Karine Siegwart, Senior Advisor for the Centre on Policy and Law, IUCN and Dr. Alexandra Harrington, Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law Agreement on Plastic Pollution Task Force, ​are supporting intersessional work as legal experts to support the governments with which we are working in the AFRIPAC project. There are two ad hoc intersessional open-ended expert groups that were formed at INC-4, established to inform and advance the work of the INC. These are not negotiating nor decision-making meetings and are not part of an INC session.

We are grateful to the Government of São Tomé and Príncipe for the delegation invitation for our experts, and to the governments of São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea Bissau, Cabo Verde, Sierra Leone, and Senegal for their ongoing commitments to this project, the INC process, and in combatting plastic pollution. The support and cooperation among countries will be increasingly important at INC-5 in November, and during the upcoming implementation phase of the future treaty.

Expert Group 1 aims to "develop an analysis of potential sources, and means that could be mobilized, for implementation of the objectives of the instrument, including options for the establishment of a financial mechanism, alignment of financial flows, and catalysing finance, for the consideration by the Committee at INC-5." 

Expert Group 2 aims to "identify and analyse criteria and non criteria based approaches regarding plastic products and chemicals of concern in plastic products, and product design focusing on recyclability and reusability of plastic products, considering their uses and applications, for the consideration by the Committee at INC-5."

IUCN and IUCN WCEL with our partners GRID-Arendal for the AFRIPAC project have produced four legal briefs for INC Intersessional work (date August 2024). 

_________________________________

More Information:

AFRIPAC is generously funded by Norad, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.